The Smiling Merman
by a1y-puff
Summary: A parody of "The Little Mermaid". Fuji is a merMAN who found an interest in a certain stoic Prince named Tezuka. Chap 4: It is time for Fuji to get used to human's life… or not… -DISCONTINUED- Apologizes for the inconvenience.
1. Stormy Encounter

**Title:** The Smiling Mermaid  
**Author:** a1y-puff  
**Pairing:** TezuFuji, as usual… might include other pairings later.  
**Genre:** parody/romance  
**Warning:**Shonen Ai,AU!  
**Disclaimer:** PoT and it's characters aren't mine. Neither "The Little Mermaid". I'm so sad .

**A/N:**Okay, so this is part of **"The Fairytale Project"** I'm doing with Ann (**Tacuma**). I'm doing 'The Smiling Merman', while Tacuma make '**Syuu White**'. Check it out!

Btw I've been trying to submit this since Sunday but ffnet failed me!!! just now I'm able to submit this, in a net cafe faraway from home. this is Tacuma's b'day present by the way...

**Now, a few notes before you read:**

1. I will address Fuji as _'merman'_ since he is a male.

2. For the females, I will use _'mermaid'._

3. To address their species, I'm borrowing the term _'merfolk'_ from 'Dungeon and Dragon' and 'Legend of Zelda'.

4. there is an **accompanying fanart** for this chapter!! Find the link after the chappie x3

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-Chapter 1-

**Stormy Encounter**

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It was another boring day for merman, Fuji Shuusuke. Sure, life deep under the sea was beautiful. There were many colorful and friendly fishes, many beautiful corals, and also some sharks he had managed to tame and now had become his pet. Kinda.

But if you saw the same view every single day since the day you were born, even if it was beautiful, you would get bored at some point, wouldn't you? And Fuji's daily activities were always the same. He woke up at morning, went to school (yes, merfolk go to school too, mind you.) After school, he would just swim around the sea and say hi to some of his friends, whether they were merfolk or fishes or octopuses whatsoever. Fuji was popular around his neighborhood for he was always smiling. Thus, he earned the title "The Smiling Merman".

Not only he had a friendly display on his face, Fuji was also beautiful. Though he was a male, he had pretty face with soft, long honey brown hair and beautiful rarely-open azure eyes. His fins were the color of sky blue. He was very intelligent too. He was attractive to both male and female merfolk.

He had many fans, of course. They usually followed him around in school or ask him to hang out somewhere else. But they did not know that contrary to his friendly smile, Fuji did not really like being surrounded by people—merefolk, in this matter.

So at times, when he felt the need to be alone, he would swim to a place far from his home and school. Sometimes, he would visit the remnants of some shipwrecked ships, collecting some stuffs he believed he had no use of but he still collected them simply because they were unique.

He sometimes wished he had legs so he could venture on land. He wanted to know what the grounds were like. His teacher once said that they, merfolk, should never go to the land. Furthermore, they should never show up in front of a human. Humans were terrible beings, they were told. Humans were foolish; they created terrible things and destroyed the nature. Humans were weak, so they got easily scared of anything different from them thinking that they were threats. Merfolk were different than humans. No doubt humans would feel threatened and they would do something terrible to the merefolk if they ever knew of their existence.

Humans were also dense, so merfolk should NOT fall in love with them. There was a tale from a long time ago about a mermaid who fell in love with a human. She was willing to sacrifice her beautiful voice just so she could have legs and could go to meet the man she fell in love with. But the man was so ungrateful and oblivious to the mermaid's love for him that he married another girl, a princess for that matter, and let the mermaid die as she turned to bubbles in the sea.

Fuji always thought that that mermaid was foolish. He had heard of the tale a hundred times already and never understood why she didn't just kill off the prince. What good had he if he was so ungrateful anyway? Was it worth to trade your life for someone who betrayed your heart? What was that so-called love that had always been the said reason for that sad love-story? Fuji never knew. And he thought he would never know.

It was nighttime already, Fuji could tell. It should be safe to swim to the surface now, just for a change of view. It was supposed to be a full moon that night. So, he swam a little far away from downtown to a more secluded area so that no one would find him, and then swam to the surface of the sea.

Slowly, he let his head out of the water. His hair was hovering around him. He observed his surroundings carefully. He was in the middle of the sea, no humans should be around.

"What are you doing here?" a familiar voice called him from behind. Fuji's eyes snapped open in surprise and he promptly turned his head.

"Mou, An-chan… you surprised me," Fuji smiled at the mermaid with shoulder-length hair, smiling at him. It was Tachibana An, sister of Tachibana Kippei, his good friend and rival.

"Oh? You were surprised?" she asked with a teasing smile. "So, what are you doing here, Fuji-san?" she asked again.

"I was just thinking I would watch the full moon… but it's kinda cloudy, ne? Too bad." He answered. "What about you?" he asked back.

"The same with you, perhaps?" she answered.

Fuji smiled. He knew that his junior was curious about humans and the life above the sea, just like him. If her brother found out, though, he wouldn't like it to see his sister sneaking out at night like this.

"Your brother must be looking for you," Fuji smiled.

"Well, don't tell him, okay? I'll get into trouble if he finds out about this little hobby of mine," she said, laughing.

"I won't." Fuji promised.

"Hey, look at that! Isn't that a ship?" An looked excited as she pointed to an object behind Fuji.

Fuji turned his head. "A ship? In this bad weather?"

"Oh, you know humans. They always feel superior towards nature. I Just wanted to see if there will be someone who will fall off his ship," An said, laughing.

"Oh, you mean like that tale of the mermaid a long time ago?"

"Yeah… oh, wait! There's another one!"

Fuji turned his head to the left and saw another ship sailing proudly against the strong wind.

"They just loved challenging nature, don't they? Humans…" An mumbled.

Just as Fuji was about to comment, a thunder suddenly roared followed by heavy rain and merciless gales.

"Saa, this is a very sudden storm, isn't it?" Fuji remarked calmly. "Ne, An-chan, we should probably go back…"

"Oh no! Someone _really_ fell off the ship!" he heard An screamed and after mumbling something like, "Oh, great" with a sarcastic tone, the mermaid swam off to the direction of the second ship.

"Hey wait! What are you…" just before he could finish his words, he caught a glimpse of a falling figure from the other ship.

"Oh, God," he cursed as he swam the opposite direction of where An had. Was the wind just too strong? Or did humans just HAD to fell off from their ships in the stormy sea?

Quickly, he dived to the sea as he saw the figure was drowning. _'This is so troublesome,'_ he thought. After some time of swimming with his eyes opened, he finally saw the figure that kept on falling deeper into the waters. He quickly swam towards the human that he figured was a man and grabbed his hand.

He pulled the man up to the surface just to find that he—they, were pretty far from the ship.

Fuji slung the man's arm around his neck so that he wouldn't drown. Now what was he supposed to do? He could just swim to the ship and bring the man back to his people, but he would be seen, and it wouldn't be good.

He then looked around. There was a land to the north but it's a bit far. Well, he had no choice anyway.

"This is really troublesome…" he murmured as he started to swim as fast as he could with a man clutched to him. He felt heavy, but he was not really a person to watch someone die when he could still do something. He had to swim fast and get the man to the land or he would die.

Eyes filled with determination, he then moved his tail faster and swam his way to the land.

-x-X-x

"Gosh, I made it…" Fuji muttered as he breathed heavily. The storm had finally gone and the sun had shown himself when he managed to get to the beach and leaned the man against a big rock—or coral, whatever—near the beach.

He couldn't get the man to the shore or he wouldn't able to swim back to the sea because the water was too shallow. Here, it was deep enough for him to be able to move around freely, yet shallow enough so the man wouldn't drown.

The man, he noticed, was pretty handsome. His hair was the color of dark brown, and it was soft when he touched it. He had an aristocrat nose, and he was tall too, from what he could tell. "You're heavy, you know," he said to the unconscious man.

There was no reply.

"Hey, are you even breathing?" he asked as he closed the distance between them. He put his ear on the man's chest. There was a heartbeat, yet it was very weak. Then, he raised his right hand under the man's nose.

He wasn't breathing.

"Oh God, please don't waste my effort of bringing you here! You can't die now!" he said as he raised his right hand to slap the man's face.

Slap! Slap! Slap!

No reaction aside of the man's cheeks turning red from his slapping.

"Damn it," he cursed under his breath. He tried to calm himself down. He had to think of something, but his brain would not cooperate. He was a genius for crying out loud!

Suddenly, he remembered something about CPR. He learned it at school, though he never really understood why they had to study it. The teachers only said 'just in case'. Just in case of what? He was wondering back then, but now he was grateful he learned that.

Fuji had never practiced to do CPR before but he had to do it. He pinched the man's nose, and caught the man's lips with his.

1…2…3…

He checked the man's pulse. Still weak.

He repeated his action. And after the third trial, the man coughed hard and spurted water from his mouth.

Fuji rubbed his back. "There, there… it's okay, now," he said with an assuring tone.

The man slowly raised his head. His eyes were half-open. It was when Fuji found out that the man's eyes were the color of hazel. He looked like he wasn't completely conscious.

Fuji quickly moved away from the man. He shouldn't be seen. But then, he felt a light, weak grip on his wrist. Fuji spun his head.

"…you… are…?" the man asked weakly, his voice was deep and low and was almost like a whisper for the lack of energy.

Oh no, he had been seen. That's bad… or not. Fuji smiled, his eyes opened, revealing the beautiful blue orbs that were rarely seen. "Saa, an angel?" he replied.

The man looked at him, tried to open his eyes more but he couldn't. The grip on Fuji's wrist loosened, and the man's eyes were slowly closing again. "I… must be… dreaming…" were his last words before he fell unconscious again.

Fuji smiled again as he watched the unconscious man. His smile faltered as he raised his hand to stroke the man's hair. He then leaned closer until his lips brushed the man's ear and whispered.

"But I am real…"

He kissed the man, not knowing why he did it. He just wanted to. Then, he backed away a little before he added, "Though I would be flattered if I were to show up in your dream."

Fuji then heard footsteps coming to his way, so he decided that he should go soon. He looked once again at the beautiful man and after one last smile, he dived to the sea and swam far away from there.

**-To Be Continued-**

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**A/N:** Uwaaah Chapter 1 done! Please review if you read this. I'd like to know what you think about my first AU fic, onegaishimasu! And yes, Fuji had long hair here, but he'll cut it off in the next chappie XD

Oh, and I made Tezuka 18, coz I think it's the most suitable age for the story laughs

This is the link for the fanart.Remove the space, ne: http// a1y-puff. deviantart. com/ art/ TezuFuji-Stormy-Encounter-77584754

Oh, and if any of you are wondering what is Tachibana An doing there… actually I'm planning to slip in a little of hetero pairing ; I was about to make RyoSaku when Moe-san (sempai-sama) poked me with (censored) x An banner XD

And beside, it looks like many people don't really like Sakuno, so I put An instead ;

By the way, here's **the teaser for the next chapter**:Super Deluxe Inui Potion

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"_Are you in love with him?" Inui cut him off._

_Fuji sighed. "Yumiko-neesan told me that too, but oh please, Inui. You've had known me for years. Do I look like I WILL fall in love at all? In the first sight?"_

"_According to my data, there is 0.04 chance of you ever falling in love at first sight—"_

"_See?"_

"—_but for all these years I've known you, you've always _defies_ my data."_

_Fuji was silent._

"_Whether you've fallen in love or not is something you have to find out yourself, Fuji," Inui said again. "Now, what if I tell you I can give you legs so you can go and meet him?"  
_

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That's it! See you again in the next chapter! Review would be so much loved!! Con-crits would be loved too! Flames wouldn't be loved but I can use flames to cook my other ideas into another stories ;p. 


	2. Super Deluxe Inui Potion

**Title:** The Smiling Mermaidchap 02  
**Author:** a1y-puff  
**Pairing:** TezuFuji of course, and… InuKai, yay! XD  
**Genre:** parody/romance  
**Rating:** G  
**Sumary:** a parody of the little mermaid. Fuji was a merman who found interest to a certain stoic Prince named Tezuka xD

**Warning: **Shonen Ai,AU! And maybe… some OOC-ness  
**Disclaimer:** PoT and its characters aren't mine, neither "The Little Mermaid". I'm so sad .

**A/N: **Haha, unlike my **Little Surprises**, this wasn't done in a rush. I tried not to get careless XD  
I'm back with chapter 2! Hope you didn't wait for too long XD  
Anyway, this chappie is kinda short, gomen! I still hope you'll enjoy this though  
and we have **InuKai** here XD

thanks again for **moehoshi** and Lizzie for the help!

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-Chapter 2-

**Super Deluxe Inui Potion**

* * *

It had been a week since the storm yet Fuji still couldn't get rid of the man's face off of his mind. He had never been like this before. Yumiko said he was in love. Fuji said it was mere interest since that was the first time he got a close-up look on a human. 

Yes, it was a mere interest.

It was a mere interest in that particular human-being that he thought he would like to meet again just to satisfy his wonder about humans. Yes, that was the only reason. Really.

And that was why he was now here, in front of a cave deep under the sea.

Fuji calmly swam in to the cave. The cave was creepy, but Fuji didn't feel scared or anything. He was familiar with the creepiness after all. He had been here for many times already, since he was friends with the one lived in this cave.

As he got closer to the deepest part of the cave, he smelled something weird. Fuji thought that his friend might be on his experiment again. That was why he lived in this desolated area in the first place; his experiments had always been causing chaos in the neighborhood.

"Ah, Fuji. What brings you here?" a bespectacled male merman with light green fins turned his head from whatever he was working on with a big pot full of some weird liquid.

"Hey, Inui. I'm only visiting a friend; can I not do that?" Fuji asked, smiling.

The merman fixed his square glasses—which he found in a wrecked ship and had taken a liking to it that he never let it slip off of his face—then fixed his gaze on Fuji's smiling face.

"Judging from your smile, there is 88.9 chance of you needing something from me. Now can you tell me what is it that you need?" Inui asked.

Still, smiling, Fuji opened his eyes. "As perceptive as ever, eh, Inui?" he said.

When Inui did not answer, Fuji continued, "Well, actually something had caught my interest. And I want to know if you could provide some information?"

"If I have the data," Inui replied. "Is it about a human that fell off of his ship last week?"

Fuji was surprised Inui knew that much. No, he was more surprised of HOW Inui knew about it.

As if reading Fuji's mind, Inui then spoke, "An was here two days ago, asking about a human that fell off his ship."

"An-chan?" Fuji asked, a little surprised. But then he continued, "Well, the human I'm interested in is probably different from An's, since last week, there were—"

"—two humans who fell off of their ships, am I correct?" Inui continued for him. "Both of them are apparently princes from respective countries on land. And the human you are interested in must be a tall man with dark brown hair and hazel eyes?"

Fuji was stunned for a moment before he finally smiled and nodded. "Good. If you know, that would make things much easier. Now, can you tell me anything about him?" Fuji asked.

Inui swam a little to his right, grabbing a green notebook containing his data—which we would never know how the book didn't get shattered from being wet—and flipped its pages until he stopped at a particular page.

"Tezuka Kunimitsu, 18 years old. Height: 182 cm. Weight: 60 kg. Blood type: O. Born at October 7th. Hobbies: Mountain climbing, camping, fishing, hiking…"

"Wait-wait-wait-wait a second. How exactly did you know about ALL that?" Fuji asked in disbelief. He had wondered of how Inui knew of the accident a week ago, about which human he was interested on, but he didn't think much about it, yet now… he really wanted to know just HOW exactly Inui gathered all his data—that he seemed to have data about just about everything.

Inui smirked. His glasses shone somewhat evilly as he did.

Now, Fuji thought, maybe he didn't really want to know after all.

"Whatever. Anyway, as I told you before, I am interested in him, so…"

"Are you in love with him?" Inui cut him off.

Fuji sighed. "Yumiko-neesan told me that too, but oh please, Inui. You had known me for years. Do I look like I _will _fall in love at all? At first sight?"

"According to my data, there is 0.04 chance of you falling in love at first sight—"

"See?"

"—but for all these years I've known you, you've always _defied _my data."

Fuji was silent.

"Whether you've fallen in love or not is something you have to find out yourself, Fuji," Inui said again. "Now, what if I tell you I can give you legs so you can go and meet him?"

"You can?" Fuji asked, and winced inwardly at his own all-too-hopeful tone.

"Yes, I can. Although there are some consequences you would have to face."

Fuji looked thoughtful, before he finally said, "Okay, go on."

"First of all, I will need your hair—" Inui paused as he felt Fuji's suspicious eyes on him. "Don't get me wrong, Fuji. I need your hair in my potion for it contains the D.N.A. Otherwise, you might get legs that wouldn't fit you at all," Inui explained.

"Oh, okay," Fuji said as he casually grabbed a sharp object and cut off his long, beautiful hair into chin-length. "Here," he gave his hair to Inui.

Inui stared at Fuji's hair and said, "It's actually too much. I only need a little, but oh well. I might use it on my experiment to create a potion that may make people smart like you," he mumbled, as he accepted Fuji's hair.

"Whatever. I was thinking ofcutting it short anyway. It had gotten too long," Fuji said as he combed his now chin-length hair with his fingers.

"Please wait," Inui said as he picked some bottles of potion, and mixed them together in another pot. He stirred to the left, and after some time, he stirred back to the right and he looked like mumbling something. Perhaps a spell, since he uses magic after all.

Then, after throwing in some of Fuji's hair into the pot and stirring the potion some more until bubbles started to appear, Inui smirked.

"Ne, Inui. Whatever it is that you make, it's safe, isn't it?" Fuji looked doubtful as he took a peek to the purplish liquid in the pot.

"Don't worry, Fuji. It has been tested. I gave An-chan the potion two days ago, and she got her legs just fine," Inui said as he picked another small bottle and poured some of the potion into that bottle.

"She did?" Fuji asked. "Wait, are you saying that she's actually gone to the land? Does Tachibana know anything about this?" Fuji asked worriedly.

"Yes, she's gone to the land, to meet the human she had rescued a week ago. And she said she had told Tachibana about that, though I am not sure Tachibana gave her permission. She probably fought for it, though." Inui explained as he swam closer to Fuji.

Fuji eyed Inui as the spiky-haired merman swam closer to him with the potion on his right hand. "I suppose I should drink that?" Fuji asked.

"That is true. Now, I need one little drop of your blood to mix in this potion, and then my 'Super Deluxe Inui Potion' will be ready."

Fuji eyed the potion with a thoughtful look, then he sighed and cut a little of his forefinger, letting his blood drip on to the potion. As soon as his blood made contact with the potion, the bottle shone and then the liquid color had turned from purple to maroon.

"It's ready now," Inui said.

Fuji still looked doubtful; he just stayed still and did not take the potion from Inui.

Inui sighed. "I suppose you need proof?" Inui stated as he turned his head to the direction of an entrance for another part of his cave. "Kaoru, come here," he called.

"Kaoru?" Fuji asked himself. He had heard that name before, but he couldn't recall… wait. Isn't that the name of a sea snake of Inui's pet?

Then, from the entrance, came a merman with dark green fins and sharp eyes. He was wearing a bandana that Fuji recalled Inui had found in another shipwreck the two of them had ventured on.

"Fsssshhhuuuu" Kaoru hissed in greeting.

"Fuji, meet Kaoru. He's—"

"—your pet sea snake," Fuji continued for him.

"Correct. He wanted to be a merman, so I gave him the potion. And he got his body just fine, as you can see," Inui stated as he circled his arm around Kaoru's waist.

Fuji looked a little confused at first. He knew of course, that Inui loved his sea-snake pet so much, but he didn't know it was _that _kind of love. He just shrugged it off.

"Good for you, then, Inui," he said, smiling knowingly.

Inui had a slight blush on his cheeks.

Fuji was about to tease his friend again, when he suddenly remembered something. "Wait a minute. But Kaoru drank it to get a merman body, not legs. He must've drunk a different potion, then?"

"Well, the potion was only slightly different, but they have the same concept, worked in the same way, and also have the same side-effects," Inui explained.

"I see. Then, I'll drink it—"

"Wait, Fuji. There are something I need to explain before you drink that," Inui cut him off, again.

"What is it?" Fuji asked.

"First, the side effect. Once you drink the potion, you will lose your voice," Inui paused to see any reaction from his friend.

Fuji's eyes were opened, but not in dangerous glint. He merely watched Inui, waiting for the bespectacled mermaid to continue.

"You see, this potion have some magic in it that is bad for your throat. Once it makes contact with your throat, it will damage your throat, and you will lose your voice," he continued.

"Oh… that's not a good side effect," Fuji commented.

"Yes. That's why Kaoru can only hiss. He doesn't have his voice… for now," Inui explained. And before Fuji could comment, he then added, "Second, this potion will not last forever. You will have to make Tezuka Kunimitsu to fall in love with you and marry you—"

"Marry me?" Fuji cut off in disbelief.

"Yes, marry you. You will have six months to do that. If you succeed, you will have your voice back and you can keep your legs. If you don't, you will have to kill him. Otherwise, you will turn into bubbles and die," Inui explained with a very serious tone.

They were silent for a minute, each of them lost in their own thought. Fuji looked really thoughtful while Inui… well, we would never know what kind of expression he had behind his glasses. And Kaoru was also silent, as if understanding the heavy atmosphere. He just reached out his hand to hold Inui's, offering comfort.

Fuji smiled when he noticed the little gesture Kaoru made. Inui sure was lucky to have someone like that to be by his side.

"Turn into bubbles and die… just like that tale from long ago," Fuji remarked.

"Actually, I learned the potion from an old book that I suspected came from the era of that mermaid tale," Inui said, then he added, "Of course, I have modified it, so it would give the legs that suits the user best, and also extending the time limit to make the human fall for you. You can't make someone love you just in several days, can you?"

"Maa, I suddenly think that your potion is pretty convenient, then. I have a good six months to make him fall for me and marry me right?"

"That is true. However, if things do not turn the way we expected it—"

"—then I will kill him," Fuji said. His eyes bored through Inui's glasses, making the spiky-haired boy shiver.

"Are you sure you can do that?" Inui asked.

"Of course I can. I would certainly feel bad, but I will not be as stupid as that mermaid who gave her life for an ungrateful prince. I value my life and will defend it, and I will kill if I have to," Fuji stated calmly. Yet, somewhere in his chest, something was aching as he thought about killing _that _person. But he tried to steel up himself. He could do it. No, he _should _and_ would _do it, if need be.

Inui was quiet. He thought that Fuji still had yet to understand just how strong love can be, strong enough to even make you let go of your life. But he said nothing. Fuji will find out for himself, sooner or later.

"Oh, by the way, I want to ask something," Fuji suddenly said.

"What is it?"

"How come I would get my voice back and keep my legs just by marrying the prince?"

Inui shrugged. "No science and magic could beat the power of love." He felt annoyed to say such illogical thing, but it was true anyway. "Oh, and not just marrying, he should marry you because he _loves _you." Inui emphasized so that his friend wouldn't just… well, maybe threaten the prince with something terrible to force him into marrying him.

"Hai, hai… I know," Fuji waved his hand a little. "Oh, that reminds me… why don't you marry Kaoru so he could have his voice back?"

"FSSSSSHHHUUUU!!!" Kaoru hissed with his all-bright-red face, while Inui coughed uncomfortably. Fuji had to laugh to see such a cute reaction from the couple.

"Well, I still have a good five months to convince my parents so that I could marry Kaoru," Inui said as he looked away with slightly flushed cheeks. Kaoru immediately turned his head to Inui in disbelief. Fuji figured that Inui never told Kaoru about his plan.

"I can't let you die, Kaoru. I will marry you," Inui said reassuringly and received another hiss form Kaoru. But this time, a softer one.

"Maa, I wish both of you luck. Now if I may drink this, or is there anything else I should know?" Fuji interrupted.

"Hmm… no, that's all about it. Oh, and you will fall unconscious after you drink that. The transformation of your tail into legs is pretty painful too. But worry not. I will have Kaoru take you to the land near Tezuka Kunimitsu's castle. Fortunately, his castle is very close to the ocean."

"Oh, okay. Sorry to burden you, Kaoru-kun," Fuji smiled to Kaoru. He didn't mind his good friend entrusted him to Kaoru, since he knew that Kaoru was probably faster then Inui.

"Fssshu" Kaoru nodded. Inui then opened a map and was pointing here and there while Kaoru just nodded.

"Okay, Fuji. You may drink it," Inui said.

Fuji brought the potion closer to his mouth. This was it. This was the time. Once he poured the potion into his mouth, there would be no turning back. He would have to make Tezuka fall for him or kill him if need be.

Fuji sighed, then took a deep breath before finally draining the potion in one gulp.

As soon as he swallowed it, he felt like his throat was burning. He gasped for water, but it did not help. He wanted to say something, but his voice came out in whispers before finally fading. He heard Inui mutter a "Take care of yourself, Fuji," before finally, he felt his body was being swept up by Kaoru. They went at high speed towards the surface, which was still very far.

Slowly, he felt like he couldn't breathe. Damn it, he remembered that humans couldn't breathe inside water. He had to make it to the surface soon. He reached his hand to Kaoru's face and made a pleading look. Kaoru caught this and hastened his pace.

When he was still struggling for his breath, he felt a great pain in his tail. The transformation had started. It really, REALLY hurts.

Kaoru looked at the painful look Fuji had. He started to worry and hastened even more. And as soon as they got to the surface, as soon as Fuji caught his breath again, he blacked out.

**-TBC-**

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**A/N:** Yay! Chapter 2 down! And sorry for the little cliffy there, heheh… 

Tezuka will make his appearance in the next chappie, ne! While waiting, please review!

Oh, and I modified a little on Tezuka's height and weight, since he had grown up, heheh…

And about Inui's ranting regarding the potion, D.N.A whatsoever, I made those up of course, and I'm very sorry if there are illogical things in there ;;

Oh, and I used 'Kaoru' instead of 'Kaidoh' because he was… well, a pet. It'd be weird to call him with his surname while he was a pet

About An, she will appear in the next chappie, with the man he had rescued xD

Here's the teaser for next chap: Stand up and Walk

* * *

_Fuji was trying to stand up, but hell. He never had legs before. He fell immediately as he stood up. _

_As he heard a soft thud behind him, Tezuka turned his head and saw Fuji was on his knees._

_Okay, first try never best. Fuji once again tried to stand up and… he did! Now, he just had to walk. Fuji was about to move his left leg when he froze again. 'Err, how do you walk again?' he asked himself._

_If any of his mermaid friends were here, they would considered the frowns on Fuji's face a rare sight. Fuji was always smiling, not frowning._

_He tried to move his left foot at last, but as soon as his left foot was off the ground, he lost his balance and fell down again._

'_This is really annoying. Damn, I should've learned how to walk first… or at least read some books on how you do it,' Fuji mused inwardly._

"_You can't walk?" Tezuka asked almost in annoyance, perhaps. _

_Fuji slowly raised his head to face tezuka, shook his head and smiled apologetically._

"_Are your legs injured?" Tezuka asked._

'_No, I just haven't learned how to walk,' Fuji answered in his mind. But it would sound weird if he said that, so he merely nodded. _

_Tezuka sighed again, before finally walked towards Fuji, picked him up, and carried him, bride-style. _

* * *

That's all. Reviews would be loved! X3 

Con-crits are welcomed :D

Flames would be ignored XD


	3. Stand Up and Walk

**Title:** The Smiling Merman

**Chapter: **3.Stand Up and Walk  
**Author:** a1y-puff  
**Pairing:** TezuFuji of course, and… (Censored) x An  
**Genre:** parody/romance  
**Rating:** PG-13 I think ;;;  
**Story ****Summary:** a parody of the little mermaid. Fuji was a merman who found interest to a certain stoic Prince named Tezuka xD

**Chapter Summary: **Fuji finally made it to the land. He finally met the human being he was interested in. the man invited him in, but although Fuji already had his legs, he couldn't walk?

**Warning: **Shonen Ai,AU! And maybe… some OOC-ness for the sake of the story xD

**Disclaimer:** PoT and its characters aren't mine, neither "The Little Mermaid". I'm so sad .

**Beta: **sempai-sama

**A/N: **Hey guys, I'm back with chapter 3! Tezuka and Fuji is going to meet here, hurrah! XD

But before that, I'd like to thank everyone who had reviewed and alerted this story.

I'm happy I got more reviews in chapter 2. I hope I'll get even more reviews for this chapter XD

And for anyone who have been silent readers, please leave your reviews too if you like this, ne? It'll make me happy and will most likely speed me up in writing chapters XD

Now, I'd like to answer the anonymous reviews in the previous chap:

**diamondust:** Here's the 3rd chap! Hope you didn't wait for too long Yosi-san! Btw, my name isn't 'Ally', it's 'Aiy', but that's okay –smiles-

**taraentula:** yessir! I'm continuing this XD and thanks sooo much! I'm glad u said this was enjoyable and refreshing –blushes-

**shourin:** thank you for waiting. Here's the 3rd chappie, hope you would enjoy this chapter as well 

**Argoniett: **yay! Here's the 3rd part! Enjoy x3

* * *

-Chapter 3-

**Stand Up and Walk**

* * *

Fuji saw black. Or rather, he couldn't see anything. Was he dreaming? But he didn't remember going to sleep. He tried to remember something… anything, to explain his current condition. He then remembered visiting Inui…

Oh right, Inui's potion… he drank it. And then what happened? Oh, his throat was burning and he couldn't breathe. He then felt a very painful sensation and then…

Everything was black.

Wait, he wasn't like… dead, was he? Because if yes, he was going to haunt Inui for life!

'…_hey…'_

He heard a voice. It sounded so far away. He had heard that voice before. But where?

'… _you…'_

He couldn't really hear what the voice was trying to say.

"Hey, wake up!"

Fuji's eyes snapped open. He felt dizzy as he tried to get up to a sitting position… wait, _sitting _position?

Fuji immediately turned his head to see his tail… oh WOW! It had turned to a pair of beautiful legs! The potion really worked.

"Hey, are you okay?" asked a deep and cold voice. Fuji turned his head and saw a familiar face.

It was that man. The man he had rescued a week ago from drowning. The man with soft, beautiful dark brown hair, and beautiful hazel eyes… hey wait, he wore glasses? He didn't wear any glasses before. Oh, wait. It must have fallen off to the ocean when he drowned.

"You are not answering. Are you okay?" he asked again. Fuji couldn't tell if his tone was worried or annoyed.

Fuji opened his mouth, ready to answer, but no words came out.

Oh right… he had lost his voice.

Fuji brought his forefinger to the sands and wrote 'I am fine' in human's alphabet. Now, he was grateful they taught human's alphabet at school.

Fuji looked up to face the man — whom he had already known the name; Tezuka Kunimitsu – and smiled at him.

Tezuka frowned. He looked at Fuji's face, then to the writing on the sand. "Are you mute?" he asked again.

Fuji's smile faltered a bit as he wrote 'yes'. Just a few hours ago, he still had his rather feminine voice, but now he had lost it.

"I see," Tezuka said. His tone sounded a little concerned, if Fuji was not mistaken.

Tezuka took a good look at the stranger in front of his eyes. When he first saw him lying unconscious on the sand, he almost thought he was a she for his face and slender body showed feminine features. But soon, he found out that he was actually a male.

Now that reminded him of something. He took off his mantle and gave it to Fuji. "Here. Put it on," he offered—no, commanded might be the word.

Fuji looked confused at first and then he realized that he was naked. Well, he had been naked since he was born as a merman and mermen didn't have that… that…_thing _between his legs now. What was that again? He remembered reading about _that_ in a book of human's anatomy, but he didn't remember the name. Fuji figured out that it must be something that you should cover, since he noticed Tezuka was trying to look everywhere but _there. _He looked rather uneasy too.

Fuji smiled once again and mouthed a voiceless '_thank you'_ as he accepted Tezuka's mantle and wrapped his body with it.

"Where are you from?" Tezuka asked again, once Fuji had something to cover his body with.

Fuji was doubtful for a moment. How should he answer the question? He just wrote 'from far, far away'. He wasn't lying, was he? It was true that he came from far, far away, deep under the sea.

"How did you get here, and why were you naked? Were you robbed or something?" Tezuka asked again. He felt that he had talked way too much than his usual self, but that's the least he could do to make a conversation with a mute man.

Fuji didn't answer this. He merely smiled. He opened his eyes, though, and sent a message to Tezuka's eyes that he wasn't going to answer that. Tezuka somehow caught the message and decided not to pry any further.

"Fine, then. Now, do you have anywhere to go?" he asked.

Fuji smiled again. His heart was saying '_I'm here to meet you'_, but his head told him that it would be wise not to say so. So, he merely shook his head.

For a moment, Tezuka was deep in thought. Now, he had no choice but to take this man home with him. It was almost like he was about to pick up an abandoned puppy or something.

"Fine. Come with me," Tezuka stood up, turned around and gave Fuji a silent command to follow him.

Fuji was trying to stand up, but hell, he never had legs before. He fell immediately as he stood up.

As he heard a soft thud behind him, Tezuka turned his head and saw Fuji on his knees.

Okay, first try never best, Fuji thoughtas he once again tried to stand up and… he did! Now, he just needed to walk. Fuji was about to move his left leg when he suddenly froze. '_Err, how do you walk again?' _he asked himself.

If any of his merfolk friends were there, they would consider the frown on Fuji's face a rare sight. Fuji was always smiling, after all.

He tried to move his left foot at last, but as soon as it left the ground, he lost his balance and fell down, again.

'_This is really annoying. Damn, I should've learned how to walk first… or at least read some books on how you do it,' _Fuji mused inwardly.

"You can't walk?" Tezuka asked almost in annoyance, perhaps.

Fuji slowly raised his head to face Tezuka, shook his head and smiled apologetically.

"Are your legs injured?" Tezuka asked.

'_No, I just haven't learned how to walk,' _Fuji answered in his mind. But it would sound weird if he said that, so he merely nodded.

Tezuka sighed before he finally walked towards Fuji, picked him up, and carried him, bridal-style.

Fuji was surprised for a moment. In his normal state, he didn't think he would appreciate this kind of… kindness? He got his pride as a man and he didn't like it to be treated like a weakling, but well, he was _not _in his normal state. He _needed_help since he couldn't walk on his own.

So just this time, he would let himself being helped… by this man, only.

-x-X-x-

Fuji found himself in a big bedroom, dressed in something similar to what Tezuka wore. A set of clothes that only nobles wore. He finally wore some clothes after being forced into a bath—Tezuka had dropped him in the bathroom and had his maids to, well, bathe Fuji, which the maids seemed to accept the task VERY gleefully.

Now, what should he do? He didn't have any plan at all. Hedidn't plan to turn into human and go meet his prince charming—wait, scratch that. Well, to meet the human-being he had been interested in. He had been interested in humans since he was a child after all, so it was just a mere curiosity… or so he thought.

Now that he remembered it, he didn't say a word to his family. Will they be angry that he had gone to the land? Inui should have informed them by now, though.

Since he had nothing better to do, he decided that he should first learn how to walk. He stood up and put his left hand on the wall as a support. He tried to lift his left foot off the ground. Slowly, slowly…

And he fell.

Damn the land and its gravity. Damn balance. Water was much more convenient for him. But hell, he was a tensai! He should be able to do it soon, right?

As he stood up, the door clicked open. Tezuka was there, standing and (maybe) looking worried. Fuji assumed that he might be worried from the slight frown on his brows.

Tezuka was about to go and help Fuji but he raised a hand, telling him to stop. Tezuka stopped on his tracks, as he watched Fuji slowly raising to his feet and once again, trying to walk. Fuji almost fell down again, and Tezuka was ready to help him, but Fuji refused once more.

Tezuka stood still in front of the door. He was eyeing Fuji as the lithe boy was trying to walk again. Fuji put his left hand on the wall for support as he slowly lifted his left foot off the ground. He almost lost his balance again, but he had learned how to steady himself as he made one step forward with his right foot.

Okay, he had made one step. He tried to repeat his action with the other foot, and… he did it. He was probably starting to get used to the so-called gravity and balance.

So he made another step, and another one, and another…

And he finally managed to walk to Tezuka, who had been waiting for him at the door.He was now feeling triumphant over gravity and balance.He was indeed a tensai, he thought proudly.

But as he made his last step, he fell off-balanced and almost hit the floor, had Tezuka not caught him just in time.

Fuji smiled at him as an apology. Tezuka just stared back. For a moment or two, both of them stayed still in the half-embraced position. Somehow, the contact made Fuji felt weird, as he felt Tezuka's hand around his waist, supporting him so he wouldn't fall.

"Enough for today," Tezuka broke the silence. "You can try walking again later. Now, rest," Tezuka commanded. Fuji just nodded submissively.

He was about to step away from Tezuka when he felt the latter's strong grip on his arm. Alright, this time, he would let Tezuka helphim walk to his bed and help him sit down there. Tezuka then took a notepad and a pen from the nightstand and gave them to Fuji.

"What's your name?" he asked.

Oh right, Fuji had not introduce himself yet. Fuji smiled as he wrote his name on the notepad.

'Fuji Shuusuke.'

Tezuka nodded as he read the name of the man he had brought home. He looked at Fuji and introduced himself. "I'm Tezuka Kunimitsu," he said.

Fuji just nodded and smiled at him.

'_I know…'_

Suddenly, there was a loud voice that seemed to be calling for Tezuka as it said, "Nyaaaaa! Tezukaaa! The great, great Your highneeees where are youuu?"

Fuji could see Tezuka's brows twitched a little, before the tall boy walked to the door and let out his head so that whoever calling him could see him. "I'm here, Kikumaru. Don't be so loud and stop calling me that." He crossed his arms as he leaned on the doorframe.

"Unya! So there you are! But what are you doing there? Isn't that room empty…" Kikumaru stopped on his track as he peered inside the room and found a beautiful person that he first thought was a girl, but seeing the clothes that person wore; he decided that the person was a male.

"Hoi hoi! Who's that, nya? Your friend?" Kikumaru asked Tezuka as he waved his hand to greet the smiling boy.

"His name is Fuji Shuusuke," Fuji nodded at the mention of his name. "He will stay here for a while," Tezuka explained.

"Hmm… well then nice to meet you! I'm Kikumaru Eiji, but Eiji is fine!" Kikumaru said as he suddenly was in front of Fuji. "So Fuji, why are you here?"

Fuji just smiled at Kikumaru, who threw him curious glance.

"Kikumaru, he's mute," Tezuka said, and Fuji inwardly chuckled at the careful tone he caught at Tezuka's voice.

"Eh? Nya, sorry, I didn't know!" he panicked, but Fuji smiled at him, telling him it was okay.

"So why were you looking for me?" Tezuka asked Kikumaru.

The redhead promptly bounced back to Tezuka, who was still at the door and said, "Oh right! The Queen's looking for you. She said she wanted to talk."

"About what?"

Kikumaru grinned at this and patted Tezuka's shoulder repeatedly. "What are you saying? It's about your fiancée of course! She's coming soon enough right?"

Fuji's heart skipped a beat.

**-To Be Continued**-

* * *

Side Story #1: two days before.

'_This must be a dream'_ An thought as she stared at the man's unconscious face. This was supposed to happen a week ago. She stared at the man in front of him:closed eyelids with the long lashes, and wet hair that fell on his face. Just thinking about him made her cheeksflush and she hated it. She had never been like this before.

Suddenly, the image of the man slowly dissolved as she finally regained consciousness. She slowly opened her eyelids. Her vision was blurred.

"Ooh, she's alive!"

An promptly sat up in shock. Where was she? Who were these humans? As confused as she was, she looked down and found her tail had turned into legs. Oh right, she was on land now, to find the man that she…

"She should be mine, then!" said a voice. An was annoyed, though when she spun her head to the source of the voice, she blinked.

It was the boy she had rescued a week ago. But somehow, that boy, in his conscious state, was different from when he was unconscious. He looked a lot more like a brat.

"Hey, Akaya, haven't you ever heard of the saying, 'finders keepers'? I saw her first so she should be mine!" stated a sliver-haired boy.

What was that? She was going to be one of these boys' slave?

'_No way!'_

She was about to protest when she found out that she couldn't speak. Her voice wouldn't come out. _'Oh right, the side-effect. Great, just great…'_

"What are you saying, Niou-senpai! I'm the prince here, so it's obvious that she will be mine!" Akaya, the boy she had saved,said with a smug face.

"You're abusing your status as Prince, Akaya!"

"Cut it you guys, the girl's getting confused," a bald boy cut in, but he was being ignored.

"Forget it, Jackal. Once they start, they won't stop," a redhead with a gum said. "Oi, Yagyuu, what are you doing?" he asked as he saw a boy with glasses walked towards the girl.

Yagyuu, being the gentleman that he is, removed his mantle and gently drapped it around An. "What's your name?" he asked.

Still in her incoherent state, An said nothing. Instead, she glared suspiciously at Yagyuu and clutched the mantle he gavetightly around her body.

"Don't worry, girl, we won't hurt you," the redhead, named Marui, added as he stepped closer and squatted in front of An.

Jackal also decided to leave the two fighting boys alone to join Yagyuu and Marui. "Why are you here?" he asked.

An stared at the three pairs of eyes and opened her mouth to answer, only to be reminded of the fact that she no longer had a voice.She looked down, disheartened.

"Looks like she can't talk," Marui sighed. "Now, what are we gonna do with her?"

"Do you have a place to go?" Yagyuu asked again. An shook her head.

The three boys stared at each other, oblivious to the quarrel happening just one meter behind them.

"Hey, Yagyuu tell this brat to not always do as he pleases… Hey, why are you three so silent?" Niou asked as he stepped closer, followed by Akaya.

"This girl is mute and she has nowhere to go, it seems," Jackal was the one to answer.

The five boys were silent for a moment, when suddenly, Kirihara swept the girl up and carried her on his arms.

An mouthed a '_WHAT-ARE-YOU-DOING!_' while trying to struggle by kicking and punching Kirihara.

"Ouch, ouch! Stop it, girl! You're coming with me!" Kirihara snapped at her.

"Hey, Akaya, you're not serious about making her your slave, are you? I was just kidding!" Niou said.

'_Kidding!' _ An screamed inwardly. _'Do humans always make jokes about enslaving people?'_

"Shut up! I wasn't serious either but it's not like she has anywhere to go. I'm taking her in!" Kirihara shouted and kept on walking while carrying the still-struggling An.

Yagyuu sighed. "We have to report this to the King and Queen," he said, before following Kirihara with the others.

As she thought that struggling was futile, An stopped, though she was still glaring furiously at Kirihara and occasionally threw light punches to the boy's chest.

She wondered if she had made the biggest mistake in her life by turning into a human just to meet _this _brat…

**-end.for.now-**

* * *

**A/N:** Chapter 3 DOWN! Yay! Whew, finally… I had some difficulties here, but I made it xD

Oh, and I thought it's time to put a side story of An. So now you know, we will have KiriAn ne? XD

Anyway I'll tell you now, we will have some gender-bending from next chappie onwards (I just have to turn some of the boys into girls, for the sake of the story, hope you'll understand ne)

Anyway, sorry, no teaser for the next chappie this time. I haven't written it down; the muses are still playing around in my head. I'm having a writer's block –sobs-

It's like, I know what will happen towards the end, but I don't know what to write after this until the climax –is failing badly-

But I will continue this story until it's ending so worry not XD

anyway, since I kinda having a writer's block, would you guys care to inspire me with something? anything like... maybe what kind of scenes u wish to see between Tezuka and Fuji or what other pairings you want?

anything?

and I have a rondom questions: IF (still 'if') I were to make Jiroh and Gakuto a girl, what would their names be? Their names are so boys, I can't think of any girl's version for those .

That's all. Reviews would be much, MUCH loved, con-crits are welcomed and flames would be ignored! Hope you all enjoy this chappie x3


	4. Newly human

**The Smiling Merman Chap. 04**

**-Newly Human-**

**  
**Author: **a1y-puff**  
Pairing: TezuFuji and other pairings  
Genre: parody/romance/humor  
Rating: PG  
Chapter Summary: It is time for Fuji to get used to human's life… or not…

**Warnings:** girl!Momo, Ryoma as Tezuka's brother, Fuji being Fuji with Tezuka baby-sitting him (kinda). Oh, and indefinite time-setting (it's not supposed to be modern setting but I put tennis there. don't take it too seriously though.)

Disclaimer: I can't even afford a laptop of my own. I'm not rich, that should say enough that I don't own anything except the parody plot.

A/N:Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry for the loooooooong wait!! .

Many things going on but finally I wrote this. I hope this lengthy chapter (it's twice the usual length XD) and the amount of TezuFuji-ness here could make up for your patience and thank you people for keep poking me to update –bows-

Well, anyway, this chappie is supposed to be an interlude before the real plot begins by the next chap. I feel the need to show you guys how Fuji adapted with his new life before I throw Tezuka's fiancée in there, so bear with me ne. And this is a little fragmented. Take it as a set of ficlets, perhaps XD;;

Hugs and kisses for **Sempai-sama** for helping as always!

Credits for the ideas used will be at the end of the chapter )

Anyway a little change of format:

'_These are thoughts'_

_/ And this is Fuji's writings in notepad /_

* * *

-Chapter 4-

**NEWLY HUMAN  
**

* * *

Fuji was a prodigy as a merman, so he ought to be one as a human too, right?. Or so he thought. But even a prodigy needs to learn about things. In three days, he was able to walk normally, but that was as far as he could do. He wanted to learn how to use his legs more soon. He thought that was the only problem he would face as a human.

But he was wrong.

Being human wasn't as easy as he thought it would be. Sure, he had read a hell bunch of books about humans, the land and human surroundings, and other kinds of beings that lived on it. But reading was different from really being _there. _And so, here were some problems during his first week as a human being.

* * *

**Eating Problems**

**#1. The Fork and Knife**

No, it's not that Fuji didn't know what a fork was for. He knew that he shouldn't comb his hair with it. He had read a book about it and he knew how one should use a fork. But reading and actually doing it were two different things.

They were sitting in a huge dining room with a huge dining table that Fuji thought could serve twenty people. But because there were only six of them, including him, on the table right now, leaving half of it unoccupied, they sat not too far from each other. The Queen was out for business, so she wasn't there. It looked like The Queen and the two Princes had the habit of dining together with their royal guards and personal maid.

Thanks to the ever-talkative Kikumaru, Fuji learned that Tezuka was not an only child. He had a brother named Ryoma, the snarky boy sitting not too far from Tezuka. Kikumaru was Ryoma's royal guard, while the other man named Oishi, which Fuji can tell was really close to Kikumaru, was Tezuka's royal guard. And then there's that girl, who was currently bickering with the little prince, named Momoko. She was the only daughter of the head chef of the castle, Kawamura Takashi, and was Ryoma's personal maid… or bodyguard. Fuji didn't really care. She was Ryoma's playmate since they were close in age; according to Kikumaru.

Back to the eating problems, while the others were eating gracefully (or Tezuka was, yet the others were rather… noisy.), Fuji just stared at his food. According to the book he had read, the dish was called 'steak', made from a land animal called a 'cow'. Fuji had seen the picture of a cow, and he had no idea of what humans did to that big animal that it looked like what it was in his plate.

"Nya, Fuji, you're not eating?" Kikumaru asked.

Fuji just smiled at the redhead and nodded, before taking the fork and knife in his hands.

He knew how to grip the fork and knife but not how to actually _eat _with them. Fuji eyed some little objects on his plate, which he believed are called 'peas'. Maybe he could try with the little round objects first before trying the big one. So he put down the knife and held the fork with his right hand. All he had to do was _stab_the peas with the fork and eat them, right? So he did it. He tried to get the peas with his fork, but they rolled away. Fuji then thought that first try never best, so he just had to try again. But no matter how many times he tried, the peas kept rolling away. The fork made clanking sounds as he was playing tag with the peas, and the noise immediately drew everyone's attention to him.

Oishi's lips were opened a bit. Kikumaru eyes were wide. Momoko was obviously trying to suppress a laugh while Ryoma just said, "Mada mada dane," with an amused smirk.

And Tezuka… he seemed expressionless yet Fuji could see the tiny sweatdrop on his face.

Fuji just smiled them off and decided that he should try using the knife since the fork seemed to hate him. So he tried to slice the meat, but with the way he gripped the knife (the normal way people would grip a knife), he couldn't control his strength and movement really well. And so, he decided to grip the knife in another way he knew human held a knife… he grabbed it , raised his right hand a little higher and then… he stabbed and stabbed and stabbed and stabbed and stabbed the damn steak like a freaking psycho-killer. Satisfied that the knife had actually done some damages to the poor object, Fuji smirked, his eyes shining in victory.

And then, everyone in the room grew quiet and thought they had seen a devil.

Tezuka cleared his throat, effectively breaking the pregnant silence that enveloped them a moment ago.

Oishi then spoke, "Err, Fuji, is it possible that… you couldn't use a knife and a fork?" he asked carefully, afraid that he might offend the lithe boy.

Fuji smiled at Oishi, eyes slightly opening in annoyance for having to admit his weakness. But wait, it wasn't really a weakness. It just Fuji had never used any fork and knife before. So he finally nodded. From the corner of his eyes, Fuji could see Tezuka sigh and simply said, "Momoko," in a rather commanding tone. The girl, who was sitting just across him, nodded and smiled at Fuji.

"I will help you slice the evil meat, Fuji-san," The girl grinned. Fuji smiled and let himself be helped at last.

'_Damn'_, Fuji inwardly cursed. Being human was more complicated than what he had thought it would be.

-oOo-

**#2. Different Taste Buds **

Fuji had secretly practiced using a fork and a knife after the incident and had mastered it in one night. He was a prodigy after all. Mastering how to use fork and knife was nothing, he thought proudly. But tonight, the dishes prepared required the use of chopsticks.

'_How nice'_, Fuji sarcastically thought. They said the menu was called Sushi. Fuji had never heard of it before, but these dishes were quite different from steak. '_Humans eat many kinds of things'_, Fuji mused.

Somehow, Fuji found that using chopsticks was actually easier than the damned fork-and-knife. He had no remarkable problem in grabbing the dishes with the chopsticks. The dinner that night went on in peace… at least before Fuji's curiosity got the better of him.

There was this green spice among the three different spices provided for the sushi. As he observed, the others only used that spice in a very little amount. Being the curious kid that he was, Fuji used his chopsticks to grab quite an amount of that green thingy and plopped it inside his mouth.

"Nyaaa!! Fuji, don't! It's wasabi!" Kikumaru tried to warn him but he was too late. The wasabi was already inside Fuji's mouth, melting on Fuji's tongue. Suddenly, his eyes snapped open.

"Fuji, are you okay?" Oishi asked worriedly, while the others just stared at him, faces filled with concern… or slight concern in Tezuka's case.

Fuji blinked. That thing just now tasted _really good_, he mused. It was… he didn't really know how to describe it, but the taste really kicked in his tongue with its sharp, unique taste. Fuji's smile widened as he plopped another huge amount of wasabi into his mouth. He was practically beaming.

The others could only stare.

"Err, Fuji-san… do you happen to… like the wasabi?" Momoko dared to ask him.

Fuji nodded excitedly, his face beaming as he added more wasabi on his plate and plopped another amount into his mouth. Ryoma could only mutter a faint, hesitant, "mada… mada… dane…"

"Fuji," Tezuka called. Fuji diverted his gaze to the Prince and Tezuka continued, "You should eat the _sushi _with the wasabi, not the other way around."

Fuji just smiled and nodded. He started eating the sushi _with _the wasabi as the prince told him, though he couldn't help to add much wasabi to his sushi. But at least, dinner continued in peace.

-oOo-

**#3. Seafood's Melancholy**

The dinner went on peacefully. At least, until Fuji finished eating and asked a question about the sushi.

_/ The sushi was good. What are they made of? /_ Fuji showed his notepad to Momoko since she was the nearest, and Momoko did the favor of reading it out loud to let everyone knew of what Fuji wrote in it.

"Ah, do you like sushi? Then you must like seafood, ne?" Oishi said with a smile.

"Nya! Seafood is good!"

"I wish they could make me taller," Ryoma muttered.

"Then you should drink your milk, Ryoma!" Momoko teased, and when the boy glared at her, she added, "Oops, I mean, Y_our Highness,_" she said with a teasing tone.

Fuji wrote again because nobody answered his question yet, and Momoko, being the daughter of the head Chef, felt the responsibility to answer.

"They are made of fishes, of course! Well tamago-sushi is made of eggs, but mostly, sushi is made of fishes like salmon, tuna…"

Suddenly, Fuji rose from his seat; eyes wide in shock.

What did she say? Fish? He just ate fish? Fuji, the _merman_, had just eaten his fellow fish friends?

Fuji suddenly felt sick and had the urge to throw up, so he ran off to the direction of the nearest bathroom. Everyone was surprised at Fuji's sudden behavior. Then Tezuka, being the one who brought Fuji in, felt that he had the responsibility towards the other boy. He stood and immediately followed Fuji, while the others just exchanged confused looks.

In the bathroom, Fuji emptied his stomach and threw them up into the bathroom sink. Tezuka tried to help him by massaging his back. Tezuka himself was slightly confused and didn't know what to do. After Fuji felt that nothing was left for him to throw up, he washed his mouth and face. He suddenly felt his legs weaken, so he let himself drop and kneel on the floor.

Tezuka turned the faucet off and helped Fuji stand on his feet. Now, worry was evident on his stoic face as he saw Fuji look way too pale and his eyes were teary. Tezuka leaned Fuji against the wall for support, his hands never leaving Fuji's shoulders, fearing that Fuji would fall if he didn't hold him.

"Are you okay?" Tezuka asked in a rather soft tone. Fuji's head was bowed; his bangs prevented Tezuka to see his eyes. And when the latter gently raised a hand to brush Fuji's bangs away…

He received a glare.

Fuji's eyes pierced into his, as if saying _'How the hell do I look okay to you?'_

Tezuka was slightly taken aback. Well, okay, maybe he just asked a stupid question. He should've known that Fuji was not okay, but wasn't it a normal question one would ask in a situation like this? And why did Fuji looked so upset anyway?

Fuji then took out another notepad and pen (always bring extras for times like this, Fuji thought, since he left his other notepad with Momoko earlier) and started writing.

_/ You made me eat fish. /_

And Tezuka frowned. '_What was so wrong with eating fish?'_ he questioned inwardly, but apparently, Fuji could read his eyes and wrote again.

_/ I can't, and should never eat fish! /_ It read and the writing was less neat than usual as if Fuji was really mad. But as Fuji saw Tezuka in deep thought, his eyes soften. Of course, he should have known. Humans eat seafood; it was part of their food-chain. And while Fuji was a merman, he also ate some small fish but not salmons and tunas. Those were his friends… or pets, but certainly not his food. Yesterday, he was fine eating meat, maybe because he had never seen a real living cow and had no attachment at all with animals living on land.

His train of thoughts was cut off by Tezuka's sigh. "I won't know if you won't tell me that you can't eat seafood. Do you have some kind of allergy?"

Fuji shook his head and weakly wrote on the notepad, _/ Just don't give me any kind of seafood __anymore__, please. /_ was all he could tell Tezuka. He should accept the fact that humans eat seafood, who were his friends. At least, he wouldn't eat them while being human. He deeply regretted that he thought the sushi tasted good.

Tezuka just nodded and didn't question him any further. Then, he helped Fuji walked back to the dining room, where the others were waiting worriedly.

Kawamura, the head chef, was there. It looked like Momoko told him that someone felt sick after eating his sushi. Tezuka explained that Fuji couldn't eat any kind of seafood and it wasn't chef Kawamura's fault.

"I thought it was the wasabi," Kikumaru wondered out loud.

Fuji shook his head and smiled at the redhead as he wrote on his notepad, _/ I love the wasabi. It's not made of fish__,__ is it? /_

"No, it's made of some kind of plant," Kawamura was the one to answer. He continued, "Actually, there's a sushi called wasabi-sushi, but I never serve it because no one likes it. But if you'd like, I will make wasabi-sushi for you," he smiled at Fuji, and Tezuka could see him smiling back at the chef.

"Please do that. He just threw up everything he ate," Tezuka told the chef.

After that, Kawamura really made a lot of wasabi-sushi, which Fuji ate with glee, partly because he had emptied his stomach before, but also because the sharp taste of wasabi erased the taste of the poor fish he ate, and he was thankful for that, although he was still feeling guilty and sorry for the fish.

At that moment, Fuji decided that wasabi-sushi was going to be his favorite food as a human.

That night, Tezuka visited Fuji to make sure that the boy was alright. He found him staring out of the window, looking at the vast, dark sea with an expression Tezuka couldn't read. But somehow, he could feel the other's faint longing towards the sea.

* * *

**The Fuji-being-Fuji Problems**

**#1. Curiosity**

Fuji had always been a curious kid. He wondered about a lot of things and always needed answers for his curiosities. That was probably one factor why he was able to befriend Inui. Inui fed his curiosities with all the data he had.

In just a few days of being a human, there were already so many things that caught his interest, even the most trivial things. Tezuka was pretty much a busy Prince, so he couldn't always attend to Fuji's every questions. He decided that Kikumaru would be a good companion for the light haired boy, since he would gladly answer his every question. Thus, Fuji became close to the redhead in no time.

When Tezuka was not too busy, he would let Fuji tail him, since somehow, _he _was the one who let Fuji in, so he felt like, more or less, Fuji's guardian. That time, both of them sat quietly in Tezuka's private library. Tezuka had found out that Fuji was really fond of reading, so he thought it would be okay to let the other boy read with him.

Tezuka's library was pretty big and cozy. The lighting was good too, but there was a candle on a small table on the corner of the room. Fuji was told that it was for aroma-therapy, when Tezuka saw Fuji's eyes never leave the object.

But rather than the aroma, Fuji was more curious of the fire. They said that fire is an opposing element of water. He had been a water creature, so he had never seen a real fire before. And he was damn curious of what it was like to touch fire.

He knew, of course, that people couldn't really grasp fire, like they couldn't to water and wind, but they could still feel them, right? He had felt water his entire life, and already had a chance to feel the wind. He also wanted to know what it's like _feel_ fire. He had heard fire was hot, but he was still curious.

So he stood up from his chair. At first, Tezuka ignored him for he thought Fuji was only going to get another book. But as he turned to get another book too, he saw Fuji standing near the small table, his forefinger trying to make a contact with the fire of the candle.

"Fuji!" he snapped as he hurriedly went to the other boy, and was just in time to grab Fuji's wrist, just as the latter's forefinger was nearly enveloped by the fire. Fuji gasped as he felt his forefinger stung and was thankful as the Prince blew his forefinger with his rather cool breath.

Tezuka glared at the honey-brown haired boy and scolded him, "Do you want to burn your finger?"

The tone of voice was cold, so cold that for a second, Fuji thought he was afraid of that piercing gaze the bespectacled boy threw him. Fuji shook his head, his ever-present smile faltered as he bowed .Not long enough, he raised his head and smiled again in apology.

Fuji felt the other's eyes softened as he asked in a much calmer tone, "Why did you do that?"

Fuji took out his notepad and wrote on it, _/ I just wanted to know what it's like to touch fire, sorry… /_

And Tezuka raised an eyebrow. What kind of reason is that? Isn't Fuji old enough to know NOT to touch fire? Sometimes, Tezuka thought, Fuji's level of curiosity was that of an infant. He wondered just what kind of life did Fuji have before coming here and why Fuji seemed to know so little about the world

Tezuka sighed. "Just don't do anything like that again," he finally said. Fuji just nodded and smiled at him. And Tezuka thought that maybe, he should keep an eye on Fuji from now on.

-oOo-

**#2. The Sadistic Streak**

It was weekend. Kikumaru told Tezuka that they should take Fuji around the town, since Fuji was kind of new there. Since he had nothing important to do, (plus, he somewhat felt a little pity for Fuji for he seemed so eager to see the town) he agreed to come along. Six of them went to town after wearing some commoner clothes Momoko and Kikumaru had prepared for occasions like this.

Walking down the street, Fuji found that they had walked in pairs. Kikumaru was clinging to Oishi's arm as they walked. Momoko and Ryoma were arguing about what food stalls they should visit. That left him with Tezuka. He stole a glance to his right and saw Tezuka was as expressionless as ever. Since Tezuka wouldn't say a word, Fuji busied himself by fascinating every object he saw along the way: the food stalls, the shops, the markets, the people…

And before he knew it, he already got separated from the others.

'_Damn, I got lost,' _Fuji thought inwardly. This was so embarrassing. If Inui was here, he would have scribbled down his notebook with that annoying smirk of his while saying "Fuji Shuusuke is capable of getting lost. Ii data."

Now, he thought, if he kept walking around, someone would find him eventually. So while he was here, he might as well take a look around first. If no one found him then he would just have to ask someone the direction of the castle, he thought nonchalantly. So, he started to enjoy his 'tour' in the town, among so many humans which he had been interested in for, for a long time now.

Meanwhile, Tezuka, who was looking intensely at a tennis racket and was about to buy it, was suddenly approached by his little brother. "Ne, where's your friend?"

Tezuka blinked at Ryoma and then raised his gaze to everything around him.

That's right, Fuji was gone. But since when?

"Hoi, hoi, what's up?" Kikumaru asked as he bounced to the two Princes, dragging Oishi with him.

"Huh, where's Fuji-san?" Momoko asked as she looked around. The five of them were silent for a moment as their eyes searched for the lithe figure of the fair haired boy.

"I got careless," Tezuka whispered to himself and immediately walked out of the store to look for Fuji.

"We better hurry and find him," Oishi said. "He's new here and he's mute. It would be bad if he gets into trouble," he added with such a worry tone. And with that, the five of them went to look for Fuji.

Meanwhile, the object of their worries seemed to be enjoying himself. In his hands was a paper bag full of fruits he bought from an old lady in the fruit stand. She gave him a 50 discount as she was charmed by his smile, telling Fuji that he reminded him of her grandson. She also felt sorry for him when she found out that he was mute.

While it's true that Fuji didn't like being pitied, he made exceptions when it came to getting discounts like this. And he smiled even wider, knowing that his smiling face brought him merit. Really, maybe Tezuka and the others shouldn't be worried about him.

Well at least, not until he bumped into a bunch of people that made Fuji realize that not all people are 'good people'.

"Hey, that hurts! You have to pay for my hospital fee!" said one of them that had a scar on his left cheek.

And Fuji just smirked. '_How classic'_, he thought. He had read these kinds of scenes in a bunch of romance novels he found in some shipwreck. He just smiled in amusement.

"What are you smiling for, huuuh?!"

"Hey, that boy is pretty, are you really a boy?" one of them, who had spiky yellow hair, reached a hand out and was about to touch Fuji, when the prodigy backed away.

'_Don't you dare __touch__ me with that dirty hand,' _he warned inwardly (though he knew they wouldn't hear) before fisting his right hand and punched the man in the face with all his might.

Surprisingly, the man got blown for a good two meters away from where Fuji stood. His friends' jaws dropped. Fuji's eyes were open, looking at his right fist. He didn't know he possessed such strength.

But then, he thought, he was used to move underwater, which was certainly heavier than moving on the ground like this. That probably was it. Ah, then he realized he had an advantage for that.

He smirked, his eyes shining in somewhat an evil glint, clenching and unclenching his fist. His eyes were saying, _'Who wants to be punched next?'_, sendingshivers to the other three. Another one tried to attack him, but Fuji avoided him easily before sending him flying one and a half meters away with his fist.

The other two looked anxious and scared at the same time. Actually, Fuji would just let them go if they just ran away, but the other two decided they should teach Fuji a lesson. Fuji's smirk got even wider. Now, this was going to be fun.

Meanwhile, the group of five had been asking around and finally got hints of where Fuji might have gone to and have arrived just on time to see Fuji throw an uppercut to the last bad guy, and thus, the four of them were laid sprawled all around Fuji.

The group was silent, before finally, Kikumaru bounced to Fuji, shouting a "Nyaaa! Are you alright, Fuji?"

Upon hearing the familiar voice, Fuji turned his head and welcomed the group with a smile. '_Finally they found me,'_ he thought.

"You… beat these guys?" Oishi asked once he found his voice. He still couldn't believe such a slender body held such power.

Fuji, eyes open, smirked evilly at the unconscious bodies around him while and wrote, _/ That's what they __get__ from trying to mess up with me. /_

"Whoa, you're cool Fuji-san!" Momoko said in awe, while Ryoma just pulled his cap and muttered yet another "Mada mada dane."

Tezuka stepped closer to Fuji and asked, "What did they try to do to you?"

Fuji scribbled again on his notepad, _/ They tried to touch me so I punched them /_

Tezuka's eyes widened a little, trying to figure out what Fuji meant by 'touch'. But as he saw that Fuji was perfectly fine, he let his worry gone… that was until he caught sight of blood on his right cheek. Just a little cut it seemed, but he just had to state the obvious, "You're bleeding," while raising a hand and gently caressed the cut with his thumb.

Fuji jerked a little at the touch.

"Ah, sorry. Does it hurt?"

Fuji quickly put his smile back and shook his head.

Tezuka sighed. "You shouldn't be so careless," was all he could say, since he saw somehow that Fuji was satisfied to have taught those bad guys a lesson. Fuji nodded and smiled at Tezuka and the latter told himself to really keep an eye on Fuji next time.

He decided to start by holding Fuji's hand along the way back to the Castle so that the lithe boy wouldn't stray elsewhere anymore.

* * *

**Learning Time**

Fuji had his first week being human troublesome enough, so the following week, he decided to just stay put and learn about things he still doesn't know. It seemed like Tezuka would be busy the said week, so Fuji was left with Kikumaru, who was also being left behind by Oishi because the said man had to accompany the Prince. Kikumaru said, with a knowing smirk, that Ryoma didn't need him to guard the little Prince because Momoko would be there and he would only be a hindrance.

First, Fuji decided that he needed to get used to his legs and how to use them properly. Thanks to the ever-hyperactive Kikumaru, Fuji had learned how to walk faster, to run, to crouch, to jump and do other various moves using his legs within a week_. _One day, Kikumaru decided to teach Fuji how to play tennis.

_/ What is 'tennis'? /_ Fuji asked when the redhead proposed the idea.

Kikumaru had gotten used to Fuji not knowing about certain things, so without wondering why the other boy didn't know about tennis, he simply explained, "It's a kind of sport. Prince Tezuka loves it so much, nya! Well, I do love tennis too and it seems like everyone in this castle can play it so I thought I'll teach you. You don't mind, do you?"

Fuji thought for a while. _'__Tennis, huh?'_ A sport everyone in the castle plays and is Prince Tezuka's favorite sport. Why not try it then? Fuji smiled and nodded to Kikumaru.

Kikumaru taught him the rules first, but soon, he got bored explaining and decided to teach Fuji how to grip the racket and how to serve. After that, he taught him about various grips one can use to play tennis and after a few hours, Kikumaru realized that Fuji was a fast-learner. He then said excitedly that the Prince will have a new opponent to play with soon enough.

"If you don't have anyone to play with," Kikumaru said, leading Fuji to the nearest wall, "you can always play squash with the wall. It's also a good practice, nya!"

Fuji nodded and smiled. This tennis game was pretty interesting. He has never played anything like this underwater.

"Nya, I have an idea! How about you secretly practice until you're good enough and surprise Prince Tezuka with a game? You're a fast-learner and I'm sure you can be a good player soon!" Kikumaru exclaimed.

Fuji thought that would be interesting. He loved challenges, and according to Kikumaru, Prince Tezuka was really good at tennis. Maybe if he could be good at the Prince's favorite sport, it would help to make the prince fall for him. And so he nodded.

"Hoi! I'll be your opponent then until you're good enough!" the redhead bounced and glomped him, and Fuji just smiled.

* * *

**A Close Call**

It was almost dawn when Fuji suddenly awoken. He felt like someone was calling him. He looked out of his window and saw some kind of light from the sea. The light was moving, as if it was a code… and then he suddenly realized that it was Inui!

He didn't bother changing his pajamas and only grabbed a coat before going out of his room. He went silently, occasionally throwing a smile to the guards when he passed them, and finally, he was outside. He walked to the dock, which could be seen from his window, and there, he found Inui waiting for him.

"Fuji, it's been a while," Inui greeted.

Fuji just nodded before crouching down so he would be closer to his friend. He took out his notepad and pen, and wrote, _/ What are you doing here? /_

"I just come to say hi," Inui answered flatly, but Fuji knew better and so he pressed again with his smile, and finally, Inui gave up, "Well, I brought a message from your sister."

'_From Yumiko-neesan?'_

"She read your card," Inui said again. _'Ah, that,'_ Fuji thought. His sister used to do fortune-telling with her cards, and at times, she would read for him. It's not that Fuji believed in things like fortune-telling, but he believed in his sister.

_/ What did she say? /_

"She said that your path will not be easy. There will be someone that will come between you and the Prince," Inui recited exactly what Yumiko told him earlier.

Fuji took a moment to think about it, before writing on his notepad again, _/ She probably meant Tezuka's fiancée. I heard she will come here soon enough. /_

"Ah, Tezuka has a fiancée," Inui mumbled while scribbling on his notebook again. Then, he looked upwards to Fuji and asked, "Then what are you going to do?"

Fuji smiled and showed Inui what he thought, _/ Of course I will make Tezuka fall for me. /_

"What if you fail?" Inui asked, and though Fuji couldn't see his friends' eyes behind those glasses, he could tell that Inui was so serious.

And so he opened his eyes, his smile faltering as he wrote another reply, _/ Then, I will kill him. / _

Silence was Inui's response. For a moment, they were quiet until Inui decided to break the silence, "I brought some notes for you. It's the latest data I got from everyone. I thought you would like to know how the others were doing," he said, giving Fuji a thin notebook, which Fuji accepted with a smile. He thought it was nice of Inui to keep him updated on how his family and friends were doing.

_/ Thank you. / _was all he wrote to show his gratitude.

"Oh, and Yuuta said, 'baka aniki! What's he doing turning into human just to meet some random prince? He better succeed in making the prince fall for him!' or something like that."

Fuji chuckled soundlessly as he wrote, _/ Tell Yuuta not to worry about me. I'm doing really fine here. /_

"I will."

_/ Oh, and say hi to Kaoru for me. And you really have to tell me when __you're going to__ marry him, okay? / _He wrote again and a satisfied grin surfaced on his face when he saw his friend's face turned slightly red.

"Sure," was Inui's only reply. He was about to ask something again, when suddenly, a voice called Fuji's name. Out of reflex, Fuji pushed Inui's head, drowning him into the water before turning his head to the direction of the voice.

He found Tezuka standing not too far from him. Fuji threw the prince a smile, hoping that Tezuka didn't see or hear Inui, whose head was no longer under his hand. The data merman had probably swum away from there.

"What are you doing here?" Tezuka asked as he stepped closer and Fuji stood up from his crouching position.

_/ Nothing, I just thought __I'll go out for a walk to__ breathe some fresh air. What are you doing here? / _He asked back.

"I saw you from my room," was all Tezuka's answer.

Fuji's smile grew wider. Did Tezuka worry about him? How nice.

"Was someone with you? I thought I heard a voice," Tezuka asked as his eyes searched to the sea behind Fuji. He thought he just saw something move around there.

Fuji's heart skipped a bit and wrote _/ No, I was alone. Before you __came__, that is. Maybe it was just the wind. / _And he smiled at Tezuka; his eyes opening a little, urging the taller boy to believe him. Tezuka just nodded.

"You seem to love the sea," Tezuka stated as he remembered how the lithe boy was staring at the ocean with longing eyes some nights ago.

Fuji smiled at him, letting Tezuka see the answer through his eyes. And what Tezuka caught was something he couldn't really decipher. Something near to longing, but not exactly. And before Tezuka could catch anything more, Fuji turned his gaze to the sea, just in time to see the sun rising.

Ah, the sunrise. Tezuka remembered something vaguely as he saw Fuji's back figure with the sunrise. He then caught Fuji's wrist out of reflex and was surprised when Fuji turned his head with the questioning look on his face.

"It's nothing, sorry," Tezuka muttered as he drew his hand from Fuji's wrist.

Fuji just let it slipped as he smiled at Tezuka and turned his gaze back to the sunrise. For a moment, both of them just kept silent, standing side by side as they enjoyed the sight of the sun slowly rising and spreading its light to the world.

And Tezuka thought that somehow, for that moment he caught Fuji's wrist, Fuji seemed somewhat familiar…

--

**-To Be Continued-**

--

* * *

**A/N: **There! A looong update for your looong wait! I hope this update satisfies you guys. Thank you for your patience and please keep reading this series –bows-

**Credits of ideas:**

-The fork and knife scene was **reader-a**'s idea on LJ

-The problem with seafood was **Dark Reborn**'s idea.

-The typical scene (Fuji being bullied by bad guys) was a request from **SkySurf** and **Kariz**, and the idea to give it a twist came from **sempai-sama**.

-Tezuka caught Fuji staring out of the window to the ocean was **chibikaoruchan**'s idea on LJ

-Tezuka being protective/caring was **hey143**'s request. (tho I dun want to write him being all-too-protective yet. Fuji wouldn't like that either XD;;)

Thank you so much for your ideas! From now on, if you have any idea or request, please do tell me. I might use them (tho probably not all of them) in the story, and I will credit for sure ).

Tezuka's fiancée will be on the next chapter. Beware!! XD

Thanks for reading and please leave your reviews! That would make me happy and motivate me to write more and more –smiles-


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